We have a new team member! Ashley Rossini is incredibly excited to join The Loop Dallas as the Project Coordinator. She is a passionate, mission driven, and community focused professional with a specialty in cultivating meaningful relationships that add strategic value to the vision and goals of the organization.
Ashley is a Dallas native and DFW hasn’t been able to get rid of her since! After graduating from Texas A&M in 2018, she joined the Teach for America Dallas corps. She taught 7th grade History at Uplift Hampton for two years. There she raised her scholars test scores by 48%, the top of any middle school teacher that year. After Ashley completed her two years in the Corps she began working in electoral politics. Over the course of three years, she worked her way from organization via phone during COVID to working as a consultant at AL Media, one of the top communication consulting firms in the country. Though Ashley enjoyed the world of politics, she missed working within her own community. She then began working at Trust for Public Dallas in 2023. There Ashley learned the power of greenspaces as well as a deep understanding and appreciation for the transformative power a park or trail could have on a community.
On the weekends, you can find Ashley walking her beloved dog Annie, reading a good book, or with her friends watching any film that is showing on 35mm.
In other exciting news, this month, the Dallas Business Journal Executive Insights Interview featured our very own Jeff Ellerman, sharing about our landmark trail project and about the economic impact that The Loop Dallas will have on Dallas’ urban core.
Jeff speaking with the Dallas Business Journal about our origin story was a great opportunity to reflect on our accomplishments in the past year. When The Loop Dallas founders first talked about their vision, they were told it was impossible – the obstacles were too great, and the red tape insurmountable. In 2023, The Loop Dallas opened the first critical connection in Dallas’ 50-mile pedestrian and bike trail uniting communities and neighborhoods that were isolated because of physical, political and financial barriers. In fact, one neighbor shared that when the Trinity Forest Spine Trail opened that year, it would be the first time she could leave the neighborhood without a car. We have come a long way!
When we think about the future of our city, it’s evident that trails are essential to Dallas residents. The Loop Dallas transcends being merely an economic endeavor or a luxury amenity for our communities. Trails represent critical infrastructure for a city navigating the demands of today’s landscape. This was highlighted wonderfully in the Dallas Business Journal Executive Insights interview, where Jeff gave a great account of all of our progress.
Head to Dallas Business Journal to check out the discussion about The Loop Dallas and its impact on local real estate, how we got started, and how we’re connecting Dallas to Dallas by adding 11 miles of new trails to create a 50-mile active transportation system around our city’s core.
A big thank you to the Dallas Business Journal for the insightful and educational interview – we look forward to many more milestones ahead!
As always, we sincerely appreciate your support.
See you on the trails,
Philip Hiatt Haigh
Executive Director
The Loop Dallas
